Catalina Claro and peace
I've spent many, many years dedicated to the inner path (something close to mysticism), cultivating inner peace in my daily life.
That's where what I do comes from... My music emerges from that and creates a space where others can also rest and feel peace, even if it's just for a moment.
And for me, that inner peace is what helps the outside world come closer to calm…. Because deep down, in my view, the world and I are united, we are one. And for something to be sane outside, I believe it's essential to heal within.
Catalina Claro performs songs that emerge from silence and invite present listening. The piano and voice intertwine to open intimate and contemplative spaces, inviting one to find peace.
Instrumental music was the starting point and the destination for Catalina Claro, a promising concert pianist, Mozart specialist, and composer of incidental and functional music and orchestral compositions.
Initially, Catalina Claro dedicated herself to classical music, studying classical piano for 16 years, performing concerts with chamber groups and as a soloist in orchestras, and traveling throughout Latin America, Europe, and Asia to present her compositions. She soon found herself outside Chile's borders, spending long stays in Spain.
In 1998, she composed music for the Catalan theater company La Fura dels Baus, and in 2000, he arranged the song "Gracias a la vida" (by Violeta Parra) for the Spanish singers Víctor Manuel and Ana Belén.
In 2001, she toured as a pianist for the Spanish singer Tonino Carotone, and in 2002, she participated in the singing staff of the French theater company Cirque du Soleil. Along with Chilean actor Julio Jung, in 2003, she presented the show "Pido permiso para nacer" (I Ask Permission to Be Born), featuring piano, electronics, and vocals on texts by Pablo Neruda.
Her first album was titled In Lakech (1999), "I am another you" in the Mayan language. It was a world music work and featured drummer Sergio Tilo González (from Congreso).
Almost ten years later, Catalina released Canto por si acaso (2008), a Latin American fusion album with a strong Mediterranean influence and a fusion of acoustic and electronic music. It featured keyboardist Andrés Miquel, guitarist Emilio García, bassist Juan Caballero, and singer Soledad Guerrero, among others.
The granddaughter of writer Marcela Paz (creator of the book Papelucho), Catalina Claro belongs to a group of authors that includes figures such as Claudia Stern (ballad), Rosario Mena (electronic pop), Francesca Ancarola (Latin American song), and Ángela Acuña (incidental music).
Eduardo Peralta was born on December 23, 1958, in Santiago, Chile. He studied at Notre Dame College, which had a profound impact on him, both through its Francophone culture and its singing. He participated in the school choir.
He studied journalism for two and a half years, already active as a composer and singer. At the end of 1979, he dropped out of university and went to Europe, traveling to five countries and earning a diploma as a traveling troubadour, this vocation still accompanies him… He has been to France eight times…).
He has recorded ten CDs, appeared in twelve musical and eight poetry anthologies, and published the books Cantología (1993) and 100 Canciones (2007). His latest book is Cancionero PERALTA/BRASSENS, published by Editorial Cadenza, featuring his own songs and adaptations of Brassens' works.
He has performed in more than 120 Chilean cities and more than 80 foreign cities, in 30 countries and on four continents. Her most recent trip abroad included Türkiye, Serbia, Germany, and France (May-June 2015).
He is a troubadour (he has written more than 400 songs), an adaptor of Brassens and other French-speaking composers, Brel, Vian, Ferré, Moustaki, Louka, and Leclerc (close to a hundred adaptations); he is also a payador (he has improvised on many stages, especially with Pedro Yáñez), and has made music of poetry.
He has sung since 1999, every Monday, at the Mesón Nerudiano, where he has invited nearly 400 colleagues. He reached 800 BRASSENSIAN MONDAYS until the start of the pandemic, creating a benchmark for Latin American and French-speaking Trova in the Bellavista neighborhood, alongside a regular audience that sometimes even reserves tables from abroad, by email...
He served as a Councilor of the SCD (Chilean Copyright Society) for 10 years, and from October 2011 to October 2015, he served as President of the SCI (Chilean Society of Performers). He has been invited to world and regional musicians' conferences in London, Seoul, Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Kyoto, Rio de Janeiro, Cancún, Punta Cana, Asunción, and Panama. From 2012 to 2015, he was a member of Directorio Nacional del Consejo de la Cultura y las Artes (the National Board of the Council for Culture and the Arts).
In recent years, he has dedicated part of his inspiration to the rescue of Chilean poets, producing two CDs: XXI POETAS CHILENOS (Leutún, 2009) and ENCANTO DE LAS LLUVIAS (Maparecords, 2014), which was nominated for the first PULSAR Chilean Music Award, and which recovers in songs Chilean poets born before 1900. This repertoire led the DIBAM to invite him to its outreach project LIBRARIES ARE MORE THAN BOOKS, to sing about Chilean poets of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries in libraries in various communes of the Metropolitan, Valparaíso, Araucanía, Aysén and Maule regions. Also, the UTEM University invited him to sing about these poets in the high schools that the university sponsors in several communes of Santiago.
After the pandemic, he returned to the Mesón Nerudiano and now performs the BRASSENSIAN TUESDAYS (already approaching 100), with great colleagues from Chile and other countries.
The most important awards of his career are French. From 2004, they were the fruits of his work bridging two cultures: Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and Grand Prix SACEM des Auteurs de France, which he received alongside Georges Moustaki, Gad Elmaleh, and Francis Lai, among others. His most recent award, also from France, was the Prix Mémoire BRASSENS Diploma, which he received at Parc Brassens in Paris at the end of 2019, where he gave a concert for 400 Brassensian fans…
